On Aug. 29, Olivia Rodrigo hosted the Daisy Chain Fields Festival, which celebrated women in music spanning genres and generations. With around 45,000 guests in attendance and over $20 million raised in donations, the festival was no small feat.
At just 23, Rodrigo is changing what it means to be a woman in music and, particularly, what it means to be a pop star, refusing to separate her politics from her artistry.
Pop music and politics
Art has long stood as a challenger to the status quo, with music in particular offering people a space to challenge the mainstream. Folk artists of the ‘60s wrote anti-war anthems, Soul of the ‘70s carried civil rights messages and ‘90s Riot Grrrl music helped cultivate cathartic anger in the third wave of feminism. Artists have always had something to say about what was wrong in the world and found that saying something was integral to their artistry. For pop music, this relationship has always been more distant.
Though not always apolitical, pop music is typically understood to be safe and removed from the more radical positions that have long been implicit and explicit in other genres. Above all else, pop music is meant to be marketable.
Though Olivia Rodrigo is one of the biggest pop stars in the world, she continues to challenge what the expectation of a pop star is.
Daisy Chain Fields is indicative of a larger transformation in pop culture that mainstream success doesn’t have to be removed from politics. Olivia Rodrigo is proving this to be true.
A philanthropic approach
On the Instagram account dedicated to the festival, Rodrigo’s mission statement is as follows:
“Daisy Chain Fields is a music festival founded on the belief that joy, community, and creativity can inspire meaningful change. The festival celebrates the voices, artistry, and contributions of women in music, fostering an inclusive environment in which all are welcome. It’s a place where inspiration and curiosity lead to knowledge, strength, and action. Net proceeds from the festival are directed toward nonprofit organizations dedicated to advancing and advocating for women and girls.”
Rodrigo and her team have attempted to meet these goals through grassroots approaches.
The festival partnered with 10 nonprofit organizations supporting women and girls, with proceeds going toward their work. These organizations focus on a range of issues including reproductive rights, domestic labour, motherhood, access to healthcare and the effort to combat gender-based violence. Philanthropy is at the forefront of Daisy Chain Fields. You can learn more about each non-profit here.
On a panel the day prior to Daisy Chain Fields, Rodrigo announced that the festival had raised $10 million to donate across the various non-profits. In a shaky voice, she thanked everyone involved, wearing a pink dress with birds of freedom made by Palestinian designers at Nöl Collective.
Then, during the festival, Melinda French Gates pledged to match the original proceeds to bring the total to $20 million in donations. 100 percent of these proceeds will be distributed among the 10 organizations.
The festival also included a variety of educational sections throughout the festival. Dedicated sections explained each non-profit involved with the festival. Additionally, a section dedicated to “punk feminism” allowed attendees to walk through the history of modern punk movements and music that have and continue to exist throughout the world.
The day of the festival
Rodrigo cites Sarah McLachlan’s Lilith Fair music festival took place in the late ‘90s as direct inspiration for Daisy Chain Fields.
“At the time of Lilith Fair, women were told they couldn’t lead a festival, that no one would come, that they couldn’t get sponsors. And those women proved everyone wrong. Thanks to those trailblazers, we’re obviously in a very different situation now.” Rodrigo says.
The festival lineup pays homage to those very trailblazers she expresses her gratitude toward and spans across various intersections of genre. Bikini Kill and Garbage’s Riot Grrrl movement and grunge sit alongside Doechii’s experimental R&B and hip-hop. Eli’s 2000s bubblegum pop began the day on the same stage that Stevie Nicks and Sarah McLachlan would later finish the night off with Olivia Rodrigo.
Daisy Chain Fields offers a contemporary counterpart to the narrative of Lillith Fair based in the collective spirit of womanhood. On the panel, Rodrigo reflects on why she chose the name Daisy Chain Fields:
“…individual parts can come together to create something strong and unbreakable. It’s easy to be discouraged by all of the sadness and regression of women’s rights in our world today. But it’s artists like the one playing tomorrow and activists like the one sitting next to me today that give me so much hope.”
Perhaps the risk of being a political artist is worth the consequences. In Rodrigo’s case, it seems to be what continues to make her resonate with fans.